


To Warm A Soul

by Mouse (clandestineAbattoir)



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Duck has good timing, Hypothermia, Indrid almost freezes, Indrids future vision stops working, M/M, Pining, and he doesnt dress for the weather despite being cold blooded, and tea in his pocket, kind of, luckily both duck and ducks truck are warm, more like torpor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-11-05 02:35:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17910350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clandestineAbattoir/pseuds/Mouse
Summary: Indrid did not anticipate getting caught in the storm, but here he is. He cannot move because of the cold, but if he doesn't move, he might die. Luckily for him, Duck shows up, and Duck is warm in more ways than one.





	To Warm A Soul

Indrid was cold- well, he always was cold, it was his last name after all, but this was a different kind of cold. Bone and brain numbing, he couldn’t quite figure out where he was, and the visions in his head had all gone to static. Not surprising, his future vision wasn’t the most effective in the cold. All he could remember was the snowstorm hitting, and vaguely noting that he wasn't gonna make it home in time before he went in a sort of torpor. Ah. That provided a bit more context. He was curled up under a tree, snow clinging to his hair, wrapped in the thin jacket that he had thought would be enough, but had ended up being very, very wrong about. Gosh, he probably wasn't going to be able to make it back to his trailer until after it had warmed up, and he wasn't sure when that was going to be. But he was was probably gonna die out here if he didn’t at least try. Well, he was very much fucked, it seemed.

Weakly, he tried to cry out. His voice barely worked. A soft “help-- anyone?” was absorbed into the vast snowy emptiness of the Monongahela. Slowly, as every nerve in his body protested against the movement, against fully waking up, he made himself sit up, resting his head against the broad trunk of the tree he had slept under. He wished he had telepathy. But no, he had stupid future vision that didn't even work half the time. Fuck this, man. He was gonna die of hypothermia, all because he had chanced a trip to the lodge to catch up with old friends. Barclay had offered to drive him back, but of course he refused, because the chances of him freezing to death were lower were Barclay getting them both killed on some black ice. Well, they had been when he left. Stupid, stupid, stup-

“Indrid?” 

He was pulled out his pre-death pity party by a familiar voice. He looked up, and through his red glasses, he saw the familiar ranger, bushy eyebrows knit together in concern. 

“Indrid, what the hell are you doing? You’re covered in snow-- God above, did y’all sleep out here?” Duck approached him hurriedly as Indrid tried to offer a reassuring smile. It probably didn’t come off as reassuring as he wanted, because Duck just grew more concerned.

“Can- fuck-- can you talk? Stand? Walk?”

Indrid sighed to himself, mustering up the scraps of energy he had left to speak again. 

“My- My apologies- I am-- very c-cold. I can- I can talk. Don’t know-- about the rest.”

His shoulders slumped when he finished talking, and a panicked looked flashed across Duck’s mismatched eyes.

“Right- fuck, cool. Okay. Uh. Can- fuck- can I like, pick you up? I’m gonna carry you to my truck to get you warmed up. Is that okay?”

Indrid nodded. He didn’t care how, he just needed to get out of this cold. Duck scooped him up with a surprising amount of gentleness for such a clumsy, brawny man, and Indrid could already feel Duck’s body head radiating off of him. Vaguely, he curled closer to the warmth, not caring that Duck probably thought that was weird. That was a problem for future Indrid to deal with. Duck carried him through the snowy pines, to his familiar truck. 

“Hey, Indrid, I'm gonna have to set you down for a sec to open the door, that alright?”

Indred hummed an affirmative, and Duck set him down gently on the hood of the forest green pickup, and he immediately felt the lack of Duck’s body warmth, shivering a bit as Duck quickly opened the door of his truck. He picked Indrid back up before setting him down in the passenger’s seat. He closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side, the first thing he did once he started the car was turning up the heat to full blast. 

“So uh- Do you want me to drive you back to your trailer?” Duck said, glancing over at Indrid. He hummed another affirmative as the warm air started mercifully blasting his face. Duck didn’t start driving immediately-- instead, he took off his coat, probably because it was going to get too hot for him in the car, Indrid thought-- and gently laid it over Indrid. Oh. It was warm-- and smelled like pine needles. The warmth in his face was from the heater, obviously. Yeah. Another problem for future Indrid to deal with. 

“Sorry, thought it might help since I’m pretty warm-- I shoulda asked first.” Duck said sheepishly. 

“No-- no. Fine. Warm.” Indrid confirmed. 

Duck started driving, and Indrid realized it was much easier to concentrate now that he was starting to warm up. Every once in a while, he would catch Duck sneaking a glance at him. Probably just making sure he was okay. Yeah. That had to be it.

 

When they got back to the Winnebago, Duck looked back at Indrid, before getting out and walking around to the passenger side, opening the door.

“You think you can walk now?”

“Uh-” tentatively, Indrid moved his legs. They seemed to move alright, but the question was whether they could support his weight. A quick check of his future vision told him that said future vision wasn’t clear enough yet for that to be a reliable guess. Well, guess he’d have to find out the old fashioned way. He scooted to the edge of the seat, and Duck held out a hand to help support him. He took the coat that Dack had draped over him and draped it over his shoulders, trying to sap the last bits of warm from it as the heaters lost the battle with the cold air coming in through the open door, and then took ducks hand as he exited the car--

And then immediately fell forward into Duck, face burying in his chest as Duck’s other arm wrapped around him to support him. 

“Okay-- guess that’s a no then?” Duck said, concern and amusement lacing the twang of his accent. 

“Sorry,” Indrid mumbled into his chest. The warmth of Indrid’s cheeks was just from the body heat radiating from Duck’s chest. That was it.

“You’re fine. I’m gonna carry you into the trailer then, that okay?” 

“Yeah.”

After a bit of shuffling, Duck finally scooped Indrid back up into his arms. He carried him over to the trailer and paused.

“It’s unlocked,” Indrid mumbled.

“Why?”

“Thought I was gonna be home sooner.”

Duck nudged open the door with his foot before turning and catching it with his back. 

“Damn it’s hot in here. Did you leave your fucking space heaters on while you were gone?”

“Again. Didn’t think I would be gone long.”

Duck set Indrid gently down on the couch, and all Indrid could do was lutch Duck’s coat closer to him as he waited to warm up. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as Duck moved to the kitchenette of the Winnebago. Indrid waited quietly as he defrosted, waiting for the tv static in his head to calm itself. Duck searched through his cabinets for- something. Indrid couldn’t tell what, but, he did hear a little noise of triumph when he found it that made Indrid’s heart squeeze a little-- wait. No. Stop that, not this again. He cannot be falling for Duck. No. Duck didn’t like him like that. He’d looked, there were next to no timelines where Duck liked him back. If only he could remember which timeline that was-- no. He wasn’t gonna manipulate Duck into liking him, that would be beyond disgusting.

A soft whistling jerked him out of his thoughts. He looked over at the kitchen and-- Duck had the kettle on. Damn, Indrid forget he even had a kettle. He generally didn't really make tea. He didn’t think he even had any tea bags. He was about to tell Duck this, when the ranger pulled a small box out of of one of the pockets of his uniform. He opened it, and put a tea bag into a mug he had set onto the counter. Duck carried tea with him all the time. That was. Cute. No, it wasn’t, shut up Indrid. 

“Hey, I hope you like herbal tea, all I really got,” Duck called from the kitchen. 

“That’s fine. Just put some sugar in it, if you could?”

“You got it.”

Soon enough, Duck brought over the mug of hot tea, sitting on the couch after handing it to Indrid. Subconsciously, Indrid leaned into Duck. It was because he was warm, Indrid told himself as he closed his eyes for a moment. Just because he was warm.

“Just because I’m warm eh?” Duck teased, and Indrid’s eyes flew open, panic seizing his chest.

Had he said that out loud?

“Indrid?”

“I- uh. I’m so sorry. You. You probably don’t like me like that sorry I just made this really weird--” Indrid started to pull away,  ~~ he immediately started missing Duck’s warmth ~~ ~~,~~ but Duck’s hand on his shoulder stopped him. He looked over at Duck, and even through the red tint of the glasses, he could tell that Duck’s cheeks were definitely a darker color than the rest of his face. 

Duck mumbled something that Indrid couldn't quite hear, or more accurately, couldn’t quite believe.

“I’m… sorry?”

“I said,” he watched as Duck took a deep breath, “I said I like you too, Indrid.”

The way Duck said his name made his heart do that thing again, but this time, it didn't cause him to panic. Duck liked him, and he said it without changing his story thirty times so. He couldn't have been lying. Still, Indrid searched his eyes for any hint of deceit, but found only nerves. And so he put the mug of tea that he had been clutching like a lifeline on the table in front of the couch, and closed the gap between him and Duck, catching his lips in a kiss. He found that he had never felt warmer than in that moment.


End file.
